Ryan T. Night Assignments


Assignment 1: Reasons for Writing


Wiesel’s Reasons for Writing Night

Elie Wiesel wrote the book Night about the Holocaust for many reasons. Wiesel wrote the book to keep him sane and to help understand the madness that had been going though these peoples’ minds when they killed millions of innocent people. He also wrote the book to explain the hardships people had to go through to survive and to help past mistakes from happening again. Wiesel wrote the book because he thought it was his duty to tell the people what terrible things that had happened. He knew he was chosen by God to write this book because it would tell a story that no one should forget. Most importantly Wiesel wrote his book because of the miracle that he survived.



Assignment 2: Holocaust Web Search

Topics to Know
Questions
Answers
Nazi Propaganda
Who is Joseph Goebbels?

List three things the Nazis did to ensure that their views were shown/heard in the most persuasive manner possible.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/propaganda_in_nazi_germany.htm
Joseph Goebbels was Hitler’s propaganda appointee whose two main jobs were to prevent the Germans from seeing anything critical of the Nazis and to make sure that the information on the Nazis were more persuasive and more appealing. To make sure he succeeded, Goebbels hunted down Hitler and the Nazi’s opposition and others who would post negative remarks about the Nazis. He also made sure people could hear Hitler’s speeches; Goebbels provided cheap radios to the public. Third, Goebbels made sure the media was run, and only run by supporters of the Nazis.
Kristallnacht/ The Final Solution/
Wannsee Conference
What is Kristallnacht and what does the word mean? When did it happen?
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/kristallnacht/

Who attended and what was decided at the Wannsee Conference?

What was the Final Solution?

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005477
Kristallnacht was a night of riots against the Jewish in Germany about a year before WWII. The word means “Nigh of the Brocken Glass.” At the Wannsee conference attended by 15 Nazi and government officials, it was decided to annihilate the European Jews.
The Victims
Besides the Jewish people, list seven other groups were also targets/victims of the Holocaust?

Briefly tell the fate of each group under Nazi rule.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007457

CLUE: Begin reading at “Targeted Groups”
Other targeted groups included gypsies, Soviet POWs, disabled, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Poles, homosexuals, and the afro-Germans were victims in the holocaust. The Gypsies were put arbitrary internment, forced labor, murdered. The Poles had to do forced labor or be murdered. Disabled and Soviet POWs were put to death. “The fate of black people from 1933 to 1945 in Nazi Germany and in German-occupied territories ranged from isolation to persecution, sterilization, medical experimentation, incarceration, brutality, and murder”(Ushmm.org). The Jehovah’s witnesses were incarcerated.
The Ghettos
Describe the three types of ghettos, their purpose, and locations.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005059

What was life like in the ghettos?
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007445
· Closed Ghettos- in Poland and the soviet union these ghettos were closed off by walls with poor conditions inside the walls fatality tolls were very high.
· Open Ghettos- in Poland, USSR, and Transylvania had restrictions but were not as bad as the closed ghettos with walls.
· Destruction ghettos- was where people would live until they were shot or killed.
The Camps
There were two kinds of camps: labor camps and death/extermination camps. What is the difference between the two?
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005144

What were the conditions?

What different types of extermination were performed?

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005145
· Death camps were where people were sent to be killed as soon as they arrived. Gassing and shootings
· Labor camps were where people were worked often to death in poor conditions.
The Liberation & The Nuremberg Trials
Who liberated the camps?

What did Hitler do near the end of the war?

How many defendants were charged during the Nuremberg Trials? What did they represent?
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007143

What did the International Military Tribunal decide was not a legitimate defense?
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007142
The Allies liberated the camps and Hitler shot himself. The 24 defendants represented the German leaders.

Asignment 3: Images of Night

Elie’s Father

Elie’s Father
Serious, important
Leading, learning, trying
Like a baby bird’s first flight as a beginner
A scaredycat
Informing
With hope and fear